HELP STOP THE QUEENSWAY PARK ONLY PLAN!!!

HELP STOP THE QUEENSWAY PARK ONLY PLAN!!!

BRING A POSTER SUPPORTING TRANSIT USE FOR THE ROCKAWAY LINE!!!  

STOP THE QUEENSWAY PARK ONLY PLAN!!! THE NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) QUEENSWAY PLAN WILL FURTHER PREVENT FASTER TRANSPORTATION AND PROSPERITY. STOP JUST LIVING WITH OVERCROWDED, DANGEROUS, UNRELIABLE AND SLOW ROADWAYS, BUSES AND TRAINS! 

Join us in our struggle for a better quality of life for you and your children.

WE WANT MORE TRAIN SERVICE!!! MORE TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS MEANS PROSPERITY!!! 

The QueensWay group needs to see us and hear us. Please bring posters and your enthusiasm.  It's also a photo and recruitment opportunity. The press will be in attendance. 

Please ask all rail option supporters to attend and promote reusing the Queens Rockaway Beach Line for transportation at the QueensWay Park meetings. Let's fill the room with supporters of the Queens RBL.  See below meeting locations.

Please contact us at 718-474-0315 or Rowing612@aol.com to confirm your attendance with Queens Public Transit Committee. RSVP QueensWay and speak your mind:

Shelma Jun
QueensWay Plan Engagement Manager
shelma@hesterstreet.org
212.431.6780 x110
www.thequeenswayplan.org

Attend these events!!!

CONVERSATION //
Mon. March 24th, 7 – 9pm
Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School
91-30 Metropolitan Ave. Forest Hills, NY
(two blocks east of Woodhaven Blvd., yellow entrance)

CONVERSATION //
Wed. March 26th, 7 – 9pm 
High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture
94-06 104th Street, Richmond Hill, NY
(one block south of Atlantic Ave. at 94th Ave.)

Each workshop will include:
• Presentation of key issues from community outreach and ideas in progress
• Group activity: review of options going forward

ALSO 

Congratulations to all. Our recent Queens RBL Drive By Rally got into the newspapers.

http://www.qchron.com/editions/south/rail-advocates-stage-rally/article_1e66c9d3-180a-5030-875a-89820370e7f5.html

http://theforumnewsgroup.com/2014/03/13/drive-by-rallies-urge-support-for-reactivating-queens-rail-line/

The Queens Public Transit Committee had a successful Drive By Rally for the Queens Rockaway Beach Line, the new Queens Crosstown: Check out this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKQkHtJhlcY

 

We want to increase our public exposure. We believe in faster transportation for Queens which is the key to our economic recovery, our unity, our renaissance and our quality of life.We need your help to improve our economy, increase access to jobs and better schools through faster transportation which will reduce unemployment, crime and suffering.  It's time to unite Queens with the new Queens Crosstown. 

We need your help to win the Queens Rockaway Beach Line battle.

ALSO

Please ask your family and friends and commuters to sign our petitions to support the Reactivation of the Queens Rockaway Beach Line, the New Queens Crosstown, eliminate the toll on the Queens Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge for everyone and expand the Queens Rockaway Ferry:

http://www.rockawaybeachrail.com/

http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/Phillip-Goldfeder/story/45022/

http://www.keeprockawayferry.com

Philip McManus

Queens Public Transit Committee

718-474-0315

718-679-5309

rowing612@aol.com

LIRR Rockaway Branch Line train activity circa 1950

Below is a link to a YouTube video with Long Island Rail Road trains to the Rockaways circa 1950. You will see MP54 commuter cars going over Broad Channel as well as the viaduct as currently constituted. The scene at Rockaway Park can be an interesting juxtaposition versus today's current subway scene.

Feel free to copy the link into your browser, check it out and enjoy!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gX1AtT6jzA&feature=youtu.be

The Queens Public Transit Committee for the Reactivation of Rockaway Beach Line (RBL) Mission Statement

Queens Public Transit Committee Mission/Position Statement

How we define ourselves:

The Queens Public Transit Committee is one group that supports the former LIRR Rockaway Branch Line (RBL) for its original purpose, transportation. We want to see the reactivation of the RBL for the benefit of all the people of Queens and the City of New York. In short, Queens is notorious for long commuting times, especially by those that have no influence and power in the political process. The RBL is about fairness, inclusion, prosperity and equality.

We do not support a competing exclusive narrow park plan that will benefit only a small but fortunate section of Queens. 

Flaws of the ‘Park Plan’

The proposed park alternative will have little or no effect on relieving overcrowded buses and trains on our transportation corridors as it would only benefit a small area of Queens while the RBL would benefit all of Queens, the entire transportation system and the City. 

Comparisons to the High Line in Manhattan are not appropriate. That former New York Central elevated right of way was created in the middle of the Meatpacking District (which was already a tourist attraction) that feeds foot traffic there. Aside from small shopping districts, there’s nothing to feed the ex-LIRR right of way creating a negative return on investment – no ancillary revenue would be generated and would be nothing more than a money pit. 

Problem definition:

Queens is suffering from an inadequate overcrowded transit system and is notorious for long commuting

times for those who have no influence and power. On average, it takes 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to travel from South Queens to North Queens by public transportation. This includes actual bus travel times and not a figure derived from a timetable. Express buses frequently are caught up in traffic and a connecting subway ride while efficient, sometimes requires multiple transfers until the final destination is reached.

Bus service is at best inefficient for a couple of reasons. The maximum passenger load is about 85 total riders. With increased dwell time due to slow passenger boarding/de-boarding and stopping in traffic for lights and other vehicular traffic, increasing bus service will have little or no effect on relieving overcrowded buses and trains on our traffic corridors. While the MTA’s Select Bus Service has improved bus service somewhat in the corridors where it has been implemented, it should not be a replacement to rail service on the RBL. 

Our roadways are clogged and dangerous with numerous vehicles that cause pollution and longer commuting times. The health problems created by the vehicular traffic lowers our Quality of Life and it's getting worse by the year. The original shutting down of rail service on the RBL created these health risks, reduced prosperity and opportunities in Queens. 

Problem solution:

The reactivation of the Rockaway Beach Line to rail use is the best transit alternative as it solves all these problem issues. Trains are more efficient than a bus and or a narrow park. 

We need to expand the transit system by reactivating the RBL as a subway and or LIRR line. The RBL is the best transit alternative as when the Long Island Rail Road operated trains on this line, a typical trip into Manhattan took about 35 minutes - compare that to a trip into Manhattan with our current set of  transportation options.

A train is more efficient than a bus and or a narrow park and here’s why. For example, a typical subway train car can accommodate 100 people and thusly, a 10-car train can carry about 1,000 passengers. The average rail car will last about 35-40 years while a bus has an average lifespan of 7 to 12 years before scrapping. With full length buses costing just under a million dollars each, this is NOT a good long-term transportation investment. In short, in terms of a cost/benefit analysis, the rail option is the best transit alternative and should be the only one considered. The park plan represents separation, isolation, division, exclusion, increase travel times and more transportation congestion. 

Brief history of the line:

The Long Island Rail Road began service on the Rockaway Branch Line in the 1800s and continued to serve mid-Queens and the Rockaways into the 1950s when after the last of a series of trestle fires on the Beach Channel Bridge, service was discontinued on that route to the Rockaway Peninsula in the early 1950s and that part of the line was sold to the City of New York in 1952 (today’s subway service). In 1962, all LIRR service on the branch was discontinued and abandoned in 1962. This part of the line has lain fallow ever since.

Summary:

The RBL would increase capacity on our transit system, increase property values and create a more positive economic cash flow than turning the former rail line into a park which generates nothing.

We are open to sharing the RBL with a trails option but we will not accept the exclusive park only idea as this line already goes through a park area.

Media Contact: Philip McManus, Chairman, 

Queens Public Transit Committee

E-mail: Rowing612@aol.com
Phone numbers: 718-679-5309, 718-474-0315